Communications network

ABSTRACT

A method of processing call establishment requests, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving call establishment definition data relating to a called party identifier; b) receiving a call establishment request from a calling party, the call establishment request comprising the called party identifier; c) determining that a user terminal associated with the called party identifier is engaged in a call with a remote party; d) determining that call establishment definition data is associated with the called party identifier; and e) in response to steps b) c) and d), processing the call establishment request to connect the calling party to the called party.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to GB Application No. GB1905590.4,filed Apr. 18, 2019, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a). The above-referencedpatent application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to improved methods of handling callrequests and establishing multi-party conference calls.

Description of the Related Technology

Traditional telephony, based on circuit-switched networks such as PSTN(Public Switched Telephony Networks) and GSM (Global System for Mobilecommunications), is moving towards packet-based transmissiontechnologies such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over WiFi(VoWiFi). This move to packet-based technologies allows for theconvergence of voice and data as well as the provision of furthercommunication services such as instant messaging, audio and videoconferencing, desktop sharing etc. One of the issues associated withthese developments is that the user experience can be overly complex,especially when a user attempts to transition from one service toanother.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic depiction of a conventional communicationsnetwork 130, which comprises a plurality of base stations, of which onlybase stations 120A, 120B are shown for the sake of clarity. Thecommunications network 130 further comprises a switching unit 140 whichis configured, in use, to establish connections across the network. FIG.1 also shows first user terminal 110A and second user terminal 110B,which are connected to each other via the communications network 130. Ascan be seen from FIG. 1, a call from the first user terminal is routedvia the first base station 120A to the switching unit 140 and thence viathe second base station 120B to the second user terminal 120B. Thisend-to-end connection is shown in FIG. 1 by a solid line.

Consider that a further user terminal 110C wishes to call the first userterminal 110A. The call request may be routed via the second basestation to the switching unit and in response the switching unit willsend a signal to the further user terminal 110C that the first userterminal is already in a call. Typically, the switching unit will send afurther signal to the first user terminal to indicate that a callattempt has been made. This signal may include data uniquely associatedwith the further user terminal, such as a telephone number, such thatthe first user may take action.

For example, the first user may put the connection with the second userterminal on hold and establish a new connection to the further userterminal. Alternatively, the first user may attempt to incorporate thefurther user terminal into a three-way call which connects together allof the user terminals. However, this requires that specific actions aretaken in the correct order and the process is not simple or userfriendly.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda method of processing call establishment requests, the methodcomprising the steps of: a) receiving call establishment definition datarelating to a called party identifier; b) receiving a call establishmentrequest from a calling party, the call establishment request comprisingthe called party identifier; c) determining that a user terminalassociated with the called party identifier is engaged in a call with aremote party; d) determining that call establishment definition data isassociated with the called party identifier; and e) in response to stepsb) c) and d), processing the call establishment request to connect thecalling party to the called party.

In step e), the calling party may be connected to a multi-party callcomprising the called party and the remote party. Furthermore, in stepc) the called party identifier may be engaged in a call with more thanone remote parties and in step e) the calling party is connected to amulti-party call comprising the called party and each of the remoteparties. The multi-party call may be established by connecting thecalled party, the calling party and the one or more remote parties to acommunications server.

The present disclosure allows a user to define how calls are receivedwhen the user is active in an established call. In one respect, somespecified callers may be automatically connected to the user, replacingthe current caller, so that, for example, important clients or familymembers may be connected preferentially. In a further respect, aspecified caller may be merged into the existing call, for exampleallowing a supervisor to monitor the performance of a team member. Inboth of these cases, the switching or the merging of the call happensautomatically in accordance with the data specified in the callestablishment definition data. There is no need for the calling party orthe called party to take any action to switch or merge the call.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a communications network comprising: one or more nodes, thenodes being arranged to receive calls from a plurality of userterminals; a switching unit for making connections between a firstnetwork node and a second network node; and a call control unit, thenetwork being configured, in use, to i) receive call establishmentdefinition data relating to a called party identifier; ii) receive afrom a calling party, the call establishment request comprising thecalled party identifier; iii) determine that a user terminal associatedwith the called party identifier is engaged in a call with a remoteparty; iv) determining that call establishment definition data isassociated with the called party identifier; and v) in response to stepsii), iii) and iv), processing the call establishment request to connectthe calling party to the called party. The network may connect thecalling party to a multi-party call comprising the called party and theremote party. In an alternative, the calling party, the called party andthe remote party may connected to a communications server to establishthe multi-party call.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda method of processing call establishment requests, the methodcomprising the steps of: a) receiving call establishment definitiondata, the call establishment definition data comprising a called partyidentity and a plurality of calling party identities, when: i) a firstuser terminal is associated with the called party identity; and ii) thefirst user terminal is engaged in a call with a second user terminal; b)sending a notification to each of one or more further user terminals,the or each further user terminal being associated with a respectivecalling party identity; d) receiving a call establishment request from afirst further user terminal, the call establishment request comprisingthe calling party identifier associated with the first further userterminal and the called party identifier; e) determining that callestablishment definition data is associated with the called partyidentifier; and f) in response to steps d) and e), processing the callestablishment request to connect the first further user terminal to thecalled party, thereby establishing a multi-party call. The method maycomprise the further steps of: h) receiving a call establishment requestfrom a second further user terminal, the call establishment requestcomprising the calling party identifier associated with the secondfurther user terminal and the called party identifier; and i) processingthe call establishment request to connect the calling party to themulti-party call. The method may comprises the further steps of: j)receiving a further call establishment request from a user terminal, thefurther call establishment request comprising the called partyidentifier and a calling party identity which is not stored in the callestablishment definition data; k) sending a connection request to thefirst user terminal associated with the called party identity; and l)connecting the user terminal which sent the further call establishmentrequest received in step j) to the multi-party call if the connectionrequest sent in step k) is approved by the first user terminal.

The present disclosure allows a first user who is a part of anestablished call to define a group of users who are required in amulti-party call, for example by selecting a list of users from within acaller app. This action causes call establishment definition data to begenerated and sent to the call controller. The group of users arenotified and can then call the first user terminal. The first callreceived by the call controller from a further user terminal may causethe established call to be ended and for the first, second and furtheruser terminals to be entered into a multi-party call hosted by acommunications server. Subsequent calls from selected user terminals tothe first user terminal may then be admitted to the conference call.Calls from other user terminals, i.e. those not selected in the list, tothe first user terminal may be notified to the first user terminal andthe first user may decide to allow that user terminal to join themulti-party call. The present disclosure allows a conventional call tobe transformed into a multi-party call in a simple manner and the otherusers can join the multi-party call by dialling the phone number of thefirst user terminal. There is no need for the first party to generateand disseminate specific multi-party call phone numbers to the otherusers. Also, the other users do not need to enter meeting codes or otherdata to access the multi-party call.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a call connection unit configured to: receive callestablishment definition data from a first user terminal, the callestablishment definition data relating to a called party identifier andthe called party identity being associated with the first user terminal;receive a call establishment request from a calling party, the callestablishment request comprising the calling party identifier and thecalled party identifier; and if the first user terminal is engaged in acall with a second user terminal, connect the calling party to the firstuser terminal and the second user terminal in a multi-party call. Thecall connection unit may be further configured to establish themulti-party call by connecting the calling party, the first userterminal and the second user terminal to a communications server.

According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a data carrier device comprising computer executable code forperforming any of the methods described above.

Further features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparentfrom the following description of preferred embodiments of thedisclosure, given by way of example only, which is made with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic depiction of a conventional communicationsnetwork;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic depiction of a communications network accordingto a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic depiction of the network of FIG. 2 when a newcall has been established;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic depiction of the network of FIG. 2 when athree-way call has been set-up;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic depiction of a communications network accordingto a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network of FIG.5 after a multi-party call has been established;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic depiction of an alternative configuration ofthe communications network 530 of FIG. 5 after a multi-party call hasbeen established;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic depiction of a further configuration of thecommunications network of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network of FIG.8;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network ofFIG. 9 after a multi-party call has been established;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic depiction of a communications networkaccording to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 shows a schematic depiction of the network of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 13 shows a schematic depiction of a user terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN INVENTIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 shows a schematic depiction of a communications network 130′according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure, whichcomprises a plurality of base stations 120, of which only base stations120A, 120B are shown for the sake of clarity. The communications network130′ further comprises a switching unit 140 which is configured, in use,to establish connections across the network. FIG. 2 also shows firstuser terminal 110A and second user terminal 110B, which are connected toeach other via the communications network 130′.

The network 130′ further comprises a call controller 150. A userterminal may generate call establishment definition data, which is thentransmitted to the call controller 150, which may store the callestablishment definition for subsequent lookup. The call establishmentdefinition data comprises a calling party identity and a called partyidentity for a call (or calls). The calling party identity may comprisean identity of one or more user terminals which are associated with thecalling party. Similarly, the called party identity may comprise theidentity of one or more user terminals which are associated with thecalled party. The call establishment definition data may furthercomprise other data parameters as will be described in the followingdiscussion.

As was described above with reference to FIG. 1, a call from the firstuser terminal is routed via the first base station 120A to the switchingunit 140 and thence via the second base station 120B to the second userterminal 110B. This end-to-end connection is shown in FIG. 1 by a solidline. Consider that a further user terminal 110C wishes to call thefirst user terminal 110A. The call request may be routed via the secondbase station to the switching unit. The switching unit detects that thefirst user terminal is already in a call and sends a query to the callcontroller 150. The call controller identifies that the call attempt isfor the first user terminal and searches the call establishmentdefinition data held by the call controller.

If there is call establishment definition data for which the furtheruser terminal 110C is associated with a calling party identity and thefirst user terminal 110A is associated with a called party identity thenthe call controller may process the call in a specific manner. The callestablishment definition data may contain a data parameter which definesthe action which is to be taken by the call controller in respect of aparticular calling party identity. The call establishment definitiondata may also contain a data parameter which determines a time period(or time periods) for which that action is a valid action in respect ofa particular calling party identity.

One particular action that can be defined by a data parameter in callestablishment definition data is a ‘switch’, in which the call requestfrom the calling party (i.e. the further user terminal) is to beconnected to the called party (i.e. the first user terminal) inpreference to the established call between the first user terminal andthe second user terminal. FIG. 2 shows the call request from the furtheruser terminal 110C being routed to the switching unit 120 by a dashedline. The switching unit may detect that the first user terminal isalready in a call and send a query to the call controller 150. If thecall establishment definition data comprises a data parameterrepresenting a ‘switch’ action in respect of the further user terminalthen the call between the first user terminal and the second userterminal will be ended. At substantially the same time a new call willthen be established between the first user terminal and the further userterminal.

Referring to FIG. 3, which shows a schematic depiction of the network ofFIG. 2 when such a new call has been established, this new call is shownby the heavy solid line. The second user terminal may be disconnectedfrom the network or, as shown with the dot-dash line in FIG. 3, thesecond user terminal may be put on hold for subsequent re-connection tothe first user terminal or connection to another terminal (not shown).The switching unit may cause a message to be played to the second userterminal to inform the user that the call with the first user terminalhas been ended and to explain what further actions may occur.

A further action that can be defined by a data parameter in callestablishment definition data is a ‘merge’, in which the call requestfrom the calling party (i.e. the further user terminal) is to be mergedinto the existing call between the called party (i.e. the first userterminal) and the second user terminal. FIG. 2 shows the call requestfrom the further user terminal 110C being routed to the switching unit140 by a dashed line. The switching unit may detect that the first userterminal is already in a call and send a query to the call controller150. If the call establishment definition data comprises a dataparameter representing a ‘merge’ action in respect of the calling partythen the switching control may set up a three-way call in respect of thefirst user terminal, the second user terminal and the further userterminal. FIG. 4 shows a schematic depiction of the network of FIG. 2when a three-way call has been set-up, with the routing of the three-waycall being shown in heavy solid lines. If the user terminals are usingcircuit-based technology then the switching unit may establish thethree-way call using conventional intelligent network functionality.Alternatively, if the user terminals are using SIP (Session InitiationProtocol) signalling then the three-way call may be established bysending appropriate SIP messages between the user terminals. Anannouncement may be made to each of the user terminals to inform theusers that they are being placed into a multi-party call.

If the user terminals and/or the networks to which they are connected donot have the capability to support a multi-party call then callestablishment definition data comprising a data parameter representing a‘merge’ action cannot be processed and the call request may be processedin a conventional manner, for example routing the call request to avoice mail server, playing an appropriate announcement, providing anengaged tone signal, etc. Similarly, if there is no call establishmentdefinition data for which the further user terminal 110C is associatedwith a calling party identity and the first user terminal 110A isassociated with a called party identity then the call controller mayreport this to the switching unit. The switching unit may then processthe call request in a conventional manner, as outline above.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic depiction of a communications network 530according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure, which can beused to implement a ‘merge’ action. The communications network 530 shownin FIG. 5 is the same as that discussed above with reference to FIG. 2but with the addition of a communications server 160, which is incommunication with the call controller 150. The communications server160 has the capability to host multi-party calls, audio conferencing,video conferencing, instant messaging, document sharing, etc.

FIG. 5 shows the call request from the further user terminal 110C beingrouted to the switching unit 120 by a dashed line. The switching unitmay detect that the first user terminal is already in a call and send aquery to the call controller 150. If there is call establishmentdefinition data for which the further user terminal 110C is associatedwith a calling party identity, the first user terminal 110A isassociated with a called party identity and the call establishmentdefinition data comprises one or more further parameters which representa ‘merge’ action then the call request will be processed as describedbelow.

The call controller may transmit the data in the call establishmentdefinition data to the switching unit and to the communications server.FIG. 6 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network 530 ofFIG. 5 after the call controller transmits the call establishmentdefinition data. For each of the first user terminal, the second userterminal and the further user terminal the call connection (or attemptedcall connection in the case of the further user terminal) made via theswitching unit 140, is terminated. At substantially the same time, eachof the first user terminal, the second user terminal and the furtheruser terminal establishes a further respective connection to thecommunications server. The connections to the communications server fromeach of the user terminals are shown by the heavy solid lines.

Once each of the first user terminal, the second user terminal and thefurther user terminal have established a connection with thecommunications server, then the three terminals are present within amulti-party call which is hosted by the communications server. Dependenton the one or more data parameters stored in the call establishmentdefinition data and the capabilities of the communications server it maybe possible for further user terminals to join the multi-party call bymaking a call to the first user terminal. Furthermore, it may bepossible to extend the scope of the multi-party call to incorporatefurther services or features, such as, for example, sharing documents,instant messaging, video conferencing, etc. It will be understood thatthis possibility may be limited by, amongst other factors, thecapabilities of the communications server, the capabilities of the userterminals, etc.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic depiction of an alternative configuration ofthe communications network 530 of FIG. 5 after the call controllertransmits the establishment definition data to the switching unit andthe communications server. For each of the first user terminal, thesecond user terminal and the further user terminal the call connection(or attempted call connection in the case of the further user terminal)made via the respective base station 120A, 120B, is terminated. Atsubstantially the same time, each of the first user terminal, the seconduser terminal and the further user terminal establishes an over the top(OTT) Voice over IP (VoIP) call with the communications server. The OTTVoIP calls are shown in FIG. 7 by the heavy dashed lines. Anannouncement may be made to each of the user terminals to inform theusers that they are being placed into a multi-party call.

Once each of the first user terminal, the second user terminal and thefurther user terminal have established a connection with thecommunications server, then the three terminals are present within amulti-party call which is hosted by the communications server. Dependenton the one or more data parameters stored in the call establishmentdefinition data associated with the first user terminal and thecapabilities of the communications server it may be possible for furtheruser terminals to join the multi-party call by making a call to thefirst user terminal. Furthermore, it may be possible to extend the scopeof the multi-party call to incorporate further services or features,such as, for example, sharing documents, instant messaging, videoconferencing, etc. It will be understood that this possibility may belimited by, amongst other factors, the capabilities of thecommunications server, the capabilities of the user terminals and thecapacity of the communications channels used to support the OTT VoIPcalls.

It should be noted that for the sake of clarity FIG. 7 shows the OTTVoIP calls being routed directly between the respective user terminaland the communications server and not via a base station 120. It will beunderstood that one of the base stations 120 may be providing the LTEservices, for example, which are used to transport the OTT VoIP call.Alternatively, the OTT VoIP call may be made using an alternativenetwork, for example using a WiFi™ connection to a Digital SubscriberLine (DSL) connection.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network 530described above with reference to FIG. 5. In FIG. 8 the user terminals610A, 610B, 610C are multi-functional apparatus which can be configuredto make OTT VoIP calls and/or circuit-switched calls. Furthermore, theuser terminals 610A, 610B, 610C may have their functionality extended bythe provision of additional software components. Advantageously, theuser terminals 610A, 610B, 610C may be smartphones, configurablesoftphones or other devices. First user terminal 610A makes a call tothe second user terminal 610B, which is connected via the switching unit140. The call is made and controlled by a software component which isstored on and executed by the first user terminal 610A, for example anapplication running on a smartphone.

During the call, there is a need to extend the call to include otherparties. The application comprises a meeting button which can beselected whilst the call is taking place. By making an appropriateselection, for example by selecting one or more user identities (or agroup of users), call establishment definition data can be generated bythe first user terminal 610A and then transmitted to the callcontroller. In this case the called party of the call establishmentdefinition data may be either the user associated with the first userterminal 610A or the user associated with the second user terminal 610B(or in an alternative, the call establishment definition data maycomprise two called parties, namely both the user associated with thefirst user terminal 610A and the user associated with the second userterminal 610B). The call establishment definition data may comprise oneor more calling parties and the calling party (or parties) are thosefurther individuals who are to be invited into the call. Some form ofnotification is then transmitted to the calling party (or parties).

It will be understood that the notification mechanism is not relevant tothe operation of the present disclosure. For example, the notificationmay be sent by the user terminal 610A after the call establishmentdefinition data has been generated or it may be sent by the callcontroller once it has received the call establishment definition data,etc.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network 530described above with reference to FIG. 8. Subsequent to receiving thenotification regarding the generation of the call establishmentdefinition data, the further user terminal 610C makes a call to thefirst user terminal 610A. The call attempt, shown by the dashed line, isrouted via base station 120B to the switching unit, which detects thatthe first user terminal is already in a call and sends a query to thecall controller 150. The call controller identifies that the callattempt is for the first user terminal and searches the callestablishment definition data held at the call controller. The callcontroller may retrieve the call establishment definition data generatedby the first user terminal 610A and in response may send a first signalto the switching unit and a second signal to the communications server.For each of the first user terminal, the second user terminal and thefurther user terminal the call connection (or attempted call connectionin the case of the further user terminal), made via the respective basestation 120A, 120B, is terminated. At substantially the same time, eachof the first user terminal, the second user terminal and the furtheruser terminal establishes an over the top (OTT) voice over IP (VoIP)call with the communications server. An announcement may be made to eachof the user terminals to inform the users that they are being placedinto a multi-party call.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic depiction of the communications network 530described above with reference to FIG. 8 with the OTT VoIP calls shownin FIG. 10 by the heavy dashed lines. The result is that the existingcall between the first and second user terminals becomes a multi-partycall which additionally includes the further user terminal, without theneed for the users to make any intervention. The further user terminalis automatically entered into the multi-party call by the action ofdialling the phone number of the first user terminal. If the callestablishment definition data generated by the first user terminalcomprised a plurality of calling party identities then as each ofcalling parties calls the phone number of the first user terminal thenthose calling parties may also be entered into the multi-party call.

Again, as discussed above, it is possible for the multi-party call to beextended to incorporate further services or features, such as, forexample, sharing documents, instant messaging, video conferencing, etc.FIG. 10 shows that the user terminals 610A, 610B, 610C are connected tothe communications server 160 as OTT VoIP connections but it will beunderstood that the connections to the server may be made using acircuit-switched network connection, as described above with referenceto FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic depiction of a communications network 730according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure, whichcomprises a plurality of base stations 120, of which only base stations120A, 120B are shown for the sake of clarity. The communications network730 further comprises a switching unit 140 which is configured, in use,to establish connections across the network. FIG. 11 also shows firstuser terminal 710A and second user terminal 710B, which are connected toeach other in a call via the communications network 730, with theconnection being shown by a solid line. Consider that a further userterminal 710C wishes to call the first user terminal 710A. The callrequest may be routed via the second base station to the switching unit.The switching unit detects that the first user terminal is already in acall and sends a query to the first user terminal. The routing of thecall request from the further user terminal is shown in FIG. 11 with adashed line.

Referring now to FIG. 11, when the user terminal 710A receives the queryfrom the switching unit (in response to the switching unit receiving acall request from the further user terminal 710C) the software modulemay determine if it is storing call establishment definition data inwhich the first user terminal 710A is associated with a called party andthe further user terminal 710C is associated with a calling party. Ifsuch call establishment definition data is present, and furthercomprises one or more data parameters defining a ‘merge’ action, thenthe first user terminal 710A, the second user terminal 710B and thefurther user terminal 710C may be connected to the communications server160.

FIG. 12 shows a schematic depiction of the network of FIG. 11 when callestablishment definition data indicates that the user terminals are toconnect to the communications server. The software module may retrievethe call establishment definition data and in response may send a firstsignal to the switching unit and a second signal to the communicationsserver. For each of the first user terminal, the second user terminaland the further user terminal the call connection (or attempted callconnection in the case of the further user terminal), made via therespective base station 120A, 120B, is terminated. At substantially thesame time, each of the first user terminal, the second user terminal andthe further user terminal establishes an over the top (OTT) voice overIP (VoIP) call with the communications server 160.

FIG. 13 shows a schematic depiction of a user terminal 710, whichcomprises one or more radio interfaces 711, memory device 712, centralprocessing unit 713, data storage device 714, touchscreen 715 and asoftware module 716 configured to make and control calls. The userterminal may comprise a smartphone with the software module 716comprising an appropriately configured application. The software module716 performs the functionality of the call controller 150 describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10. The software module comprises auser interface which allows a user to define one or more callestablishment definition data. For example, the user may select a groupof users who are required to join a multi-party call (i.e. a list ofcalling parties) and the time that the call is scheduled for. This callestablishment definition data is then stored within the software module.

It can be seen that the functionality of the call controller 150 (asdescribed above) may be implemented within a user terminal 710A. It maybe that not all of the plurality of user terminals have the capabilityto implement all the features of the call controller. Alternatively, itmay be that a range of user terminals 110, 610, 710 of differentcapabilities are deployed within the same network. In such a case, or inthe alternative, the network infrastructure may comprise the callcontroller 150. For those user terminals 710 which can implement thecall controller functionality then a control signal can be transmittedto the call controller so that the call controller will not attempt toperform call control operations in respect of that user terminal.

The different aspects of the present disclosure which are describedabove in relation to FIGS. 1, 5, 8 and 11 are all based on a scenario inwhich a further user terminal attempts to make a call to a first userterminal wherein the first user terminal is already engaged in a callwith a second user terminal. The attempted call from the further userterminal results in a ‘switch’ or a ‘merge’ taking place, such that thefurther user terminal is connected to the first user terminal oralternatively enters a multi-party call with the first user terminal andthe second user terminal. It should be understood that the existing callmay be a multi-party call between the first user terminal and multipleother terminals. The attempted call from the further user terminal maylead to a ‘switch’ taking place, such that a call is established betweenthe further user terminal and the first user terminal. In such a case,the other parties from the existing multi-party call may be retainedwithin that call, or alternatively the existing multi-party call may beterminated. The attempted call from the further user terminal may leadto a ‘merge’ taking place, such that the further user terminal isentered into the existing multi-party call.

In a further alternative, a ‘partial merge’ may be performed, which canbe defined by a parameter held in the call establishment definitiondata. In such a case, the call establishment definition data comprisesmultiple called party identifiers which may be associated with the‘partial merge’. When the further user terminal attempts to make a callto a first user terminal when the first user terminal is engaged in amulti-party call and a ‘partial merge’ is performed then the furtheruser terminal may be joined to the existing multi-party call.Furthermore, each of the terminals which were a party to the multi-partycall may be maintained in the multi-party call if the terminals wereassociated with one of the called party identifiers held within the callestablishment definition data. The terminals which are not associatedwith one of the called party identifiers held within the callestablishment definition data may be disconnected from the multi-partycall. It can be seen that the use of a ‘partial merge’ action allowsaccess to a multi-party call to be controlled such that only selectedusers may join the multi-party call. It will be understood that furtheractions beyond ‘switch’, ‘merge’ and ‘partial merge’ may be definedwithin the call establishment definition data.

The preceding discussion has described the action defined by dataparameters in the call establishment definition data, for example, a‘switch’, a ‘merge’ or any other action, as being performedautomatically once it has been determined that the call establishmentdefinition data comprises an appropriate calling party identity and anappropriate called party identity. In an alternative, once it has beendetermined that it would be appropriate to carry out the action definedin the call establishment definition data, an audible message may beplayed to the further user terminal to inform the calling party that thecalled party is currently engaged in a call. The called party may thenbe provided with a prompt to enter a particular input, or sequence ofinputs, which may then cause the action defined in the callestablishment definition data to be carried out.

In a similar manner, once it has been determined that it would beappropriate to carry out the action defined in the call establishmentdefinition data then some form of audible signal may be delivered to thecalled party, for example injecting a distinctive pulsed tone or a voicemessage into the call, such that the called party is able to accept orreject the potential ‘switch’ or ‘merge’ action (or other definedaction) by entering a particular input, or sequence of inputs.

In the event that the action defined in the call establishmentdefinition data is not carried out due to an intervention by either thecalling party or the called party then the call attempt may beterminated, and an explanatory message may be played to the callingparty. If the called party has a voice mail service then the callingparty may be invited to leave a voice mail message.

It should be understood that these two alternatives to the automaticprocessing of the action defined in the call establishment definitiondata may be implemented separately or together.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples ofthe disclosure. Further embodiments of the disclosure are envisaged. Forexample, the switching unit may be implemented using a telephonyapplication server (TAS). It will be understood that the functionalityof the call controller 150 may also be implemented within a TAS and thatthe functionalities of both the switching unit and the call controllermay be implemented within the same TAS. It should also be understoodthat in a large communications network, multiple instances of the callcontroller may be required. Network functions virtualization (NFV) maybe used to create instances of the switching unit and/or the callcontroller as required.

The communications server has been described as being part of thecommunications network. It should be understood that this is not key tothe functioning of the present disclosure and that once the callestablishment definition data has been accessed then it is possible forthe user terminals to make a connection to any appropriatecommunications server.

The foregoing discussion has assumed that a user may define one or morecall establishment definition data in relation to their own activities.However, it should be understood that it may be possible for one user tocreate call establishment definition data in respect of other users. Forexample, calls originating from a high value customer may be prioritisedover calls originating from other customers, with call handling staffeach having call establishment definition data which allows ‘switch’actions to be performed when a call is received from the high valuecustomer. Similarly, call handling staff may each have callestablishment definition data which allows their manager to perform a‘merge’ action, such that the performance of call handling staff can beassessed, enabling the manager to provide useful feedback. It will beunderstood that the ability to define call establishment definition datafor others may be limited in accordance with organisational structuresand requirements.

Call establishment definition data may be generated using a userterminal, for example, an app being run by a smartphone (or similar). Itshould be understood that other devices or apparatuses may be used togenerate call establishment definition, for example an application beingexecuted on a PC or laptop which cannot function as a user terminal, viaan account accessible by a web browser, etc.

If a call has been transformed into a multi-party call in the mannerdescribed above then when further user terminals call a terminal whichis connected to the call then the further user terminal(s) may beadmitted into the multi-party call if the terminals are associated withrespective calling parties and called parties in call establishmentdefinition data.

If a further terminal is not associated with a calling party in callestablishment definition data then normally the call request would bedenied, as described above. However, the call controller may transmit anotification to one or more called parties defined in the callestablishment definition data, the notification comprising the userterminal identities of the further terminal. A called party may thendecide to allow the further user terminal to connect to the multi-partycall despite the further user terminal not being associated with acalling party defined in the call establishment definition data.

Although the call establishment definition data may include a callingparty identifier, it should be understood that call establishmentdefinition data need not include a calling party identifier. Callestablishment definition data may include a single authorised callingparty identifier, or multiple authorised calling party identifiers.

Although the preceding discussion has described the call establishmentdefinition data as comprising the ‘switch’ and ‘merge’ actions, itshould be understood that call establishment definition data need notinclude an explicit action parameter, or indeed may define further oralternative actions. Call establishment definition data may be generatedbefore a call is made or during an existing call. Call establishmentdefinition data may persist until it is cancelled or modified.Alternatively, call establishment definition data may be defined for aspecific period of time. Once this period has elapsed that then the callestablishment definition data may be discarded.

Whilst some of the examples of the present disclosure have described allof the connections between the user terminals comprisingcircuit-switched network connections and other examples have shown allof the connections between the user terminals and the communicationsserver comprising OTT VoIP connections, it should be understood that thenature of the connection between the communications server and therespective user terminals is not critical to the present disclosure.Other network connections may be used, and the limitations of one ormore of the user terminals may mean that a mix of fixed networks, mobilenetworks and different transport technologies or applications are usedto provide the respective connections between the user terminals andbetween the user terminals and the communications server. It should beunderstood that a call need not be a voice call but may comprise a videocall. In the event that a multi-party call comprises a video call andthe user terminal associated with a calling party does not have thecapability to display video then the user terminal may be connected suchthat it receives the audio component of the video call. Similarly, if aparty to a video call is connected to the video call by a low capacityor congested network then the user may choose to be connected to justthe audio component of the video call. In an alternative, if networkcongestion is detected then the connection server may cause the userterminal to receive only the audio component of the video call.

As the present disclosure can be implemented on software by aconventional computing apparatus, computer code may be accessed viadownload, for example via the internet from an ISP, or on some physicalmedia, for example, DVD, CD-ROM, USB memory stick, etc. for which thecomputing apparatus has an appropriate media reader.

It is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any oneembodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other featuresdescribed, and may also be used in combination with one or more featuresof any other of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of theembodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not describedabove may also be employed without departing from the scope of theinvention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing call establishmentrequests, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving callestablishment definition data relating to a called party identifier; b)receiving a call establishment request from a calling party, the callestablishment request comprising the called party identifier; c)determining that a user terminal associated with the called partyidentifier is engaged in a call with a remote party, the user terminalbeing associated with a called party; d) determining that callestablishment definition data is associated with the called partyidentifier; and e) in response to steps b) c) and d), processing thecall establishment request to connect the calling party to the calledparty.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein in step e), the remote party isdisconnected from the called party.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein instep e), the calling party is connected to a multi-party call comprisingthe called party and the remote party.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinin step c) the called party is engaged in a call with more than oneremote parties and in step e) the calling party is connected to amulti-party call comprising the called party and each of the remoteparties.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the multi-party call isestablished by connecting the called party, the calling party and theone or more remote parties to a communications server.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the call establishment definition data furthercomprises a plurality of calling party identifiers and/or a plurality ofcalled party identifiers.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the callestablishment definition data further comprises one or more terminalidentifiers for terminals associated with a called party and/or acalling party.
 8. A communications network comprising: one or morenodes, the one or more nodes being arranged to receive calls from aplurality of user terminals; a switching unit for making connectionsbetween a first network node and a second network node; and a callcontrol unit, the communications network being configured to perform themethod of claim
 1. 9. The communications network of claim 8, wherein thecommunications network is configured to connect the calling party to amulti-party call comprising the called party and the remote party. 10.The communications network of claim 9, wherein the communicationsnetwork further comprises a communications server and the network isconfigured such that the calling party, the called party and the remoteparty are connected to the communications server to establish themulti-party call.
 11. The communications network of claim 10, wherein instep a) the call establishment definition data comprises a plurality ofcalling party identifiers and the communications network is furtherconfigured to: f) receive a further call establishment request from afurther calling party, the further call establishment request comprisingthe called party identifier; and g) process the further callestablishment request to connect the further calling party to themulti-party call established by the communications server.
 12. A methodof processing call establishment requests, the method comprising thesteps of: a) receiving call establishment definition data, the callestablishment definition data comprising a called party identity and aplurality of calling party identities, when: i) a first user terminal isassociated with the called party identity; and ii) the first userterminal is engaged in a call with a second user terminal; b) sending anotification to each of one or more further user terminals, the or eachfurther user terminal being associated with a respective calling partyidentity; c) receiving a call establishment request from a first furtheruser terminal, the call establishment request comprising the callingparty identifier associated with the first further user terminal and thecalled party identifier; d) determining that call establishmentdefinition data is associated with the called party identifier; and e)in response to steps c) and d), processing the call establishmentrequest to connect the first further user terminal to the called party,thereby establishing a multi-party call.
 13. The method of claim 12, themethod comprising the further steps of: f) receiving a callestablishment request from a second further user terminal, the callestablishment request comprising the calling party identifier associatedwith the second further user terminal and the called party identifier;and g) processing the call establishment request to connect the callingparty to the multi-party call.
 14. The method of claim 12, the methodcomprising the further steps of: h) receiving a further callestablishment request from a user terminal, the further callestablishment request comprising the called party identifier and acalling party identity which is not stored in the call establishmentdefinition data; i) sending a connection request to the first userterminal associated with the called party identity; j) connecting theuser terminal which sent the further call establishment request receivedin step h) to the multi-party call if the connection request sent instep i) is approved by the first user terminal.
 15. A call connectionunit configured to: receive call establishment definition data from afirst user terminal, the call establishment definition data relating toa called party identifier and the called party identity being associatedwith the first user terminal; receive a call establishment request froma calling party, the call establishment request comprising the callingparty identifier and the called party identifier; and if the first userterminal is engaged in a call with a second user terminal, connect thecalling party to the first user terminal and the second user terminal ina multi-party call.
 16. The call connection unit of claim 15, whereinthe call connection unit is further configured to establish themulti-party call by connecting the calling party, the first userterminal and the second user terminal to a communications server. 17.The call connection unit of claim 16, wherein the call connection unitcomprises computer executable code which is stored in and executed by auser terminal.
 18. A data carrier device comprising computer executablecode for performing the method of claim
 1. 19. A data carrier devicecomprising computer executable code for performing the method claim 12.